Clarkson on Infiniti

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
06/08/2016 at 16:53 • Filed to: Infiniti, Q30, Clarkson

As per the Sunday Times magazine:

“The Infiniti brand has not been what we’d call a runaway success. It was designed as a halo for Nissan in the way that Lexus is a halo for Toyota and Acura is a halo for Honda in many parts, and while the idea is sound, the cars have always been ho-hum and have have been sold only to people in America who were too interested in food and the baby Jesus to notice that their shiny new set of wheels was a tarted-up, half-arsed Datsun.”

After all that he thought that the Q30 would be a quiet success because for all its many failings it was quite a looker.

Have a Q30. It’s based on a Merc A Class and is built in Sunderland in the UK but you knew that, didn’t you?

DISCUSSION (27)

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:01

They’ll probably sell about 30 a year of them and 25 of them will be for dealerships.

TheHondaBro > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:03

Nissan is the coma of car manufacturers. They haven’t done anything interesting since probably 2008.

Klaus Schmoll > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:04

Do they actually have any stores that help move the product? They have like 6 showrooms and an additional 4 “service partners” all over Germany. Imagine you are going to spend some serious money on an upscale car (let’s ignore the questionable resale value here), you want convenience, how far are you willing to travel to just test drive one?

Is it any different in the UK?

Ash78, voting early and often > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:07

Clarkson being Clarkson. He probably thinks (like many) that the Infiniti EX37 was just a rebadged Nissan Rogue/Qashqai.

MultiplaOrgasms > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
06/08/2016 at 17:08

Still better sales than Cadillac.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Klaus Schmoll
06/08/2016 at 17:09

Don’t know about the UK but there’s an extensive dealer network here in the US.

Cé hé sin > Ash78, voting early and often
06/08/2016 at 17:10

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of it which may tell you something about Infiniti.

Cé hé sin > Klaus Schmoll
06/08/2016 at 17:10

Don’t know what happens in the UK but I’d guess it’s similar.

Cé hé sin > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
06/08/2016 at 17:11

That was Clarkson’s point. Only Americans buy them.

Ash78, voting early and often > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:11

It's their generic small/midsize crossover, but it's actually more of a hot hatch in disguise — based on the G37 sports sedan/coupe with a ~300hp V6 and RWD. But it looks like something your grandmother would drive...but you have to remember that as far as commonness goes, Asian brands in the US are a huge chunk of the market — far, far more than in Europe.

MultiplaOrgasms > Ash78, voting early and often
06/08/2016 at 17:14

He’s not wrong. Most Infinitis have a Nissan badged counterpart, usually in JDM land

Ash78, voting early and often > MultiplaOrgasms
06/08/2016 at 17:15

Correct, but his pithy use of "Datsun" is just his usual, cute way of living in the past and bolstering his own worldview. Don't get me wrong, his character/persona is very entertaining and I love his writing. But the predictability wears thin over the years.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > MultiplaOrgasms
06/08/2016 at 17:18

That is very true. But Infiniti has their own dedicated dealerships and Cadillac hasn’t. I don’t know why they are trying though.

MultiplaOrgasms > Ash78, voting early and often
06/08/2016 at 17:24

Sure, but what are Datsun and Infiniti anyway. Names. A badge and some letters scattered around the car. Dreamt up/repurposed for export so Nissan didn’t have to live with the shame of failing.

MultiplaOrgasms > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
06/08/2016 at 17:28

Especially since they don’t offer the things needed for success in Europe, i.e. wagons, diesels, and aggressive pricing to make them attractive options against the established competition. Thus all of them are relegated to be the also-ran for weird people and non-conformists, and maybe americanophiles.

Chinny Raccoon > Klaus Schmoll
06/08/2016 at 17:47

No dealers at all in Wales. Nearest to me is in Bristol, which is about an hour away from home. There are probably 3-5 each of the BMW/Mercedes/Audi/Jag dealers within the same travelling distance. Nearest are around 20 minutes away, but I’m in a rural area.

The nearest Lexus dealer is in Cheltenham, which is closer but still a PITA to get to.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > MultiplaOrgasms
06/08/2016 at 17:53

That’s why I kinda want a Cadillac ATS. They will be dirt cheap in a couple of years but I doubt that any small Opel garage could fix a Cadillac.

lone_liberal > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 17:56

Ignoring the fact that in going from Nissan to Infiniti the cars rotated their engines to longitudinal and went RWD. I’m not sure that’s just tarting up but Clarkson is the expert not me.

MultiplaOrgasms > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
06/08/2016 at 18:02

I wouldn’t even trust them to fix an Opel.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > MultiplaOrgasms
06/08/2016 at 18:07

Could be said about a lot of garages.

MultiplaOrgasms > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem
06/08/2016 at 18:11

“What do you mean the mechanic at the gas station down the road won’t be able to fix the suspension on my V12 Mercedes?”

Land_Yacht_225 > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 18:29

Enterprise Rent-a-Car stocks our luxury class with Infiniti more than any other luxury brand.

And why? Because nobody buys them privately like Lexus. And we may be the world’s largest consumer of S trim Nissan Altimas. Nissan trails in sales behind Toyota and Honda. We don’t buy Hondas because they’re too expensive. And even though we buy lots of Camrys and Avalons, Lexus is too established to be cost effective. Thus, all that’s left at the bottom of the barrel...Infiniti.

pjhusa > Ash78, voting early and often
06/08/2016 at 18:49

It’s a Skyline

Kinja'd!!!

duurtlang > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 18:55

I still don’t understand why they even try in Europe. With that lineup and pricing that is. If you’re utterly unknown in a market why languish with generic product which doesn’t meet market expectations and even has uncompetitive pricing? Why even bother?

That said, for the first time in months I saw an Infiniti today. It was some kind of sedan and it was towing a horse trailer. The car had two people with white (grey) hair inside.

C62030 > Cé hé sin
06/08/2016 at 19:31

I pictured him saying “thebebbejeezus” and laughed.

Fl1ngstam > Klaus Schmoll
06/09/2016 at 06:13

There are now a grand total of 14 Infiniti dealers in the UK (population: 60 million). Of these, Scotland has 1 and Wales and Northern Ireland have exactly 0.

https://www.infiniti.co.uk/centre-locator…

Nauraushaun > Cé hé sin
06/09/2016 at 06:33

I’ve owned a few 300ZXs. People would always throw that line at you - nice DATSUN! - as if it’s an insult. The Datsun Z cars are probably the most exciting thing to ever happen to Nissan. They made some crap, but so did everyone else - particularly in the 70s.

I’ll take it as a badge of pride.